Changes
by Lost2Paradise
Summary: When Michelle , freshly turned 21, returns to her home from helping her grandmother in Montana and meets Felix, her best friend's older brother, what will happen? She loves Brandon, doesn't she? But Felix is growing close, fast. Really what's a girl to do?


There was something in the air that day. Something heavy like a storm, but the clouds as I passed through them were of the purest white and looked as if nothing but a stray thought held them together. They were far from the dark, oppressive things that befit the atmosphere. I couldn't say what, or how, but I knew something had happened or was happening. Maybe it was good, maybe bad, or even indifferent, but something life-changing was happening that day. When we entered into California state borders, my heart gave a jerk. It thudded heavily in my rib cage, as if fighting to be free.

The woman next to me leant over to see if I was alright but I waved her off, quite used to pain. As such, I schooled my features and straightened once more, perhaps a touch more rigid than I had been before. The only thing that belied the mad ravings of my heart was an increase, though silent, of breath to compensate the now excited rate of blood flowing through me. I knew it was nothing to discard easily, as tachycardia is a precursor for many a serious illnesses and problems. But as it was I did shrug it off, blaming it on a change in altitude, though we wouldn't be descending for some time yet.

When minutes passed and my heart rate returned to normal, I relaxed and after a bit, nearly forgot the whole ordeal. When we touched down, in fact, I did forget. I forgot about the others on the plane, about calling to tell everyone I had landed, about my manners. I pushed through the crowded aisle, barely registering as people complained and the stewards and stewardesses frowned at me. I rushed through the airport, feeling as if I was missing something important, but immediately discarding the thought as I drew close to the escalator.

There was a group of three people tightly packed together on it. I grinned, this was a chance I couldn't pass up. I crouched and crept up behind them, sitting on the steps just behind them. One looked back but made no comment as I signaled with a finger to my lips for him to be silent. He smirked, and I couldn't help noticing that he was exceptionally handsome. The slight upturn of a smooth, pale lip revealed a small dimple on his cheek and I had to check myself from staring at him.

I blinked to clear my thoughts, how unlike me to ogle some random stranger. But this was a familiar stranger, one I was sure I had seen before. Perhaps he had been on the same plane, or we left from the same airport at least. I saw him give a slight wink, concealing one vibrant blue eye for a moment, before turning to look before him again. The thought came to me then that he would look good in glasses. An odd thought, but one that stuck with me none the less. I tried to picture it, giving him all sorts of frames with my mind's eye. A small oval pair seemed to spark something within me, but I don't know what.

When he glanced back at me again from the corner of his eyes he grinned to see me still looking, or perhaps looking again and suddenly I was glad the escalator was so long. His eyes flickered forward for a brief instant before meeting mine again. He brought two fingers to his lips briefly and inclined them my way before dropping his hand with a small, nearly purred 'ciao.' Then he stepped forward off the escalator and turned a corner, heading in the direction of the baggage claim.

I sprang up, quickly taking shelter behind a column to my left. Surely the ones who had come to see me would still be looking at the top floor, waiting for me to appear by the stair. They were in for a surprise. I inched around the side of the column, peering around at the crowds of people. I spotted my target, two people several years my elders. There was a slight woman in her late-twenties with short brown-blond hair, dressed as if she were going on a date.

That is to say all in light, fitted clothes, designed to show what she had and mask what she shouldn't. The other was male, mid-twenties, with buzzed brown hair and a slight goatee starting. He was tall and round and as tough as a box of sandpapery kitten tongues. He wore relaxed clothes, similar to what I had donned this morning though his t-shirt was lighter and his jeans darker. The one thing that did not differ between the three of us was the shoes. We all wore converse, of varying colors and sizes. In the woman's case, she actually had two different colors, her right shoe orange and the left green.

I smiled at this. We had all been in love with the shoes ever since we were little. I glanced down at mine with a fond sigh, seeing the worn canvas and pen and marker drawings made by friends as well as myself. I examined the rest of my clothing critically, wishing I had known earlier that I would bump into a handsome stranger. I would have worn something nicer. I scoffed then at the lie I was trying to sell myself. Comfortable, light washed, bell bottomed jeans with a white lightly patterned belt under a well loved Captain Morgan tee with my trusty converse was about as nice as it got for me.

I was a simple girl, with a taste for simple drinks and strong men. Or was it strong drinks and simple men? Either way, I was a firm believer in showing a true face to the world, not some powdered, primped one that would wash away in the shower. I was pushing it if I flipped out the ends of my straightened hair or wore a cadet cap, maybe even a fedora on occasion. Today had actually saw me with a brown cadet cap with a white fleur de lis.

Sighing and shaking myself out of my reverie once more, I crept around in a wide arc around the pair. Having wasted at least five minutes already I was ready to get the pouncing over with and begin the no doubt loud and nonsensical reunion. I was five feet from them, moving in on silent feet behind a conveniently moving group of people dense enough to hide all but my cap when I heard the male, my brother, begin to greet someone.

My head snapped up, from watching the crowd around me, to him and my sister. I took a step forward, forgetting the crowd disguising me. There, hugging my brother like a long lost friend, was the handsome man from earlier. He then stepped back and greeted my sister politely. Seeing my chance, and not willing to wait until either of my siblings saw me, I pounced upon my brother, jumping a bit more in my shock than I had intended. As a result I had to cling to him to keep from falling in an ungraceful heap on the floor.

"Surprise!" I shouted, and they were. All three of them gave open response to the shock. My sister gave a loud squeal, my brother nearly falling over in surprise at the sudden change of weight and shout in his ear. The stranger though, only took a single step back before composing himself and giving me a grin similar to the one before.

"Well well, I see you have successfully stalked and brought down your prey, Tigress. Now what will you do?" He asked, nearly caressing the words with his voice. If I could think clearly at the moment I would have wondered if the only register his voice had was that sensual purr. As it were though, my mind defaulted to fit the situation, leaving me to rest for a while a recuperate from his charm. At the same time a sort of buzzing began to fill my ears.

"I don't know, what do you suggest?" I asked back, seeming to amuse him. He was about to reply when Nicholas spoke up.

"Hey, if you two don't mind, the prey would like a say in this." he interrupted, snapping us out of the short exchange. My brother always was impatient, he got it from out father's side. I adjusted myself to get down easier and draped my head over his shoulder dejectedly.

"I suppose the prey wishes to be released. Oh well, I guess a bear is too big for a single Tigress anyway.." I slipped down his back and was immediately tackle-hugged by my sister Laura, whose chatter and excited shrieks seemed to be the source of the earlier buzzing. When I had hugged her back and reassured her in the same fast paced chatter that I was fine and my flight had gone well, she calmed down enough to realize that I didn't actually know the new comer and suggest we get acquainted. He stepped forward, all daring and dark promise. He held out a hand and when I went to shake it he turned mine palm up and laid a kiss to my wrist.

"I'm Nicholas's friend Felix Gregoire. It's a pleasure to meet you Tigress. And let me say that I think you could have taken down that bear quite easily. He is getting on in age you know." He joked and released me. I smiled, years of practice from hanging around guys keeping the blush from my cheeks.

"Michelle, his sister, and success would have been guaranteed with your help cat-man." I joked back, playing off Felix as _Felis _or cat. It was only then that the knowledge of his last name sunk in.

"Wait! Felix Gregoire? As in Brandon's ever so infamous brother Felix?" I demanded to know, though I already knew the answer. I could feel heat start to creep up to my face in embarrassment for taking so long to figure it out. To distract myself I played it off.

"You know, I knew those dimples were familiar. They're all over the old family photos, yet it still took me so long to figure it out." I sighed light-heartedly. He laughed, as did Laura, yet Nick was silent. I glanced at him for a moment, wondering what was wrong. We had gotten over the fact years ago that we would all be sharing friends and the best way to deal with it, was just to accept it. We had done that, and for years had hung out with the same people, gotten drunk in the same places, and tried the same new foods that certain friends' parents or grandparents made.

So why was he upset about me meeting Felix? Perhaps it was his reputation with the girls, or the fact that I seemed to know him already? This was certainly nothing like when I was still a teenager, and had a near obsession-like crush on the man I had never met, but always heard stories about from Brandon and girls throughout the town. It wasn't as if I would throw myself on him first chance I got, as I would have back then. Surely he doesn't expect me to do that.

One more glance, seeing him watching Felix carefully, revealed that yes, that was exactly what he expected. I contemplated for a moment doing just that, somewhere I knew he would find us, but would seem private. I dismissed the thought immediately. In addition to the fact that I barely knew him, and was completely sober, Felix was the type of man who once I threw myself at, I wouldn't know if I could actually extract myself from before I got too carried away. Plus the fact that he was Brandon's brother factored in.

I had known Brandon even back when I still thought boys had cuties. He was the one to convince me that they didn't. He was the one who helped me sneak out to camp-outs even when my mother said no. He was the one to escort me to my first school dance, and the one who showed me the beautiful and loyal converse. He and I had been friend and enemy and pretended stranger back when Nick hadn't approved of my knowing his friends.

Even before I knew it, Brandon had become my first crush, then kiss. He had been the one to get me through the long years of middle school and my first year of high school. He had been the one to show me that some things didn't only have to happen because of an excess intake of alcohol and naiveté. Even after he signed up, enlisted, served, and came back from the military, we were close. Then when Nick eased up on the whole 'my friends can't be your friends' thing, he, Nick, Laura, and I had grown even closer.

To throw myself at his brother, who he idolized, and maybe even sleep with him, would shatter that friendship, the trust. It wasn't to say that we were together, or that we didn't have partners or sleep with other people. Actually, he had built up quite the reputation himself, and I was no slouch. It was just, that to have your best(female) friend throw herself at your brother was a breach of trust. Not an insult or cheating, but breaking the unspoken rule not to sleep with your best friend's family members. And so I grinned away the thought, knowing nothing good would come of it, yet also knowing that the desire would always be there in the back of my mind, tempting me.

"-Anyway, we've wasted enough time here. Let's go get your bags from the carousel." I tuned back in just in time to hear Laura say. There was a general assent of the group and we made out way over to baggage claim, pairing off unconsciously. Laura and I were in front of the boys, walking side by side. As we chatted I realized just how much I had to tell her about, and how much she would no doubt have to tell me. It had only been a year since I had gone away to take care of our grandmother, and yet so much had happened, and changed. But, I realized as I half listened to my siblings talk, so much is still the same, and always will be. With one last glance to my high tops, I gave a laugh and let myself be swept up in the excitement of being back at last.


End file.
